Before Nvidia publicly announced Jensen Huang’s departure, Elon Musk said he wanted to hire him.
“It would be an honor,” Musk wrote on X Wednesday evening, in response to a post that said, “Elon please hire Jensen.” The exchange followed a Wall Street Journal report that Nvidia’s board was preparing to oust its co-founder, according to Reuters.
On Thursday morning, Nvidia announced that Huang had resigned as president, CEO and director, effective immediately. CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor, and longtime executive Harvey Jones becomes Nvidia’s first board chair.
The exit eliminates the co-founder who made Nvidia the chipmaker at the center of the AI boom and No. 16 on the Fortune 500 of 2026. Investors had already felt it: Nvidia lost $450 billion in market value in the days after Huang admitted to an affair, Fortune reported.
That case involved Alice Huang, a former Singapore-based executive at Megaspeed, a cloud partner of Nvidia. U.S. intelligence officials reportedly believe she was acting on behalf of Chinese intelligence, which Beijing denies. Huang publicly apologized Sunday for his infidelity.
Nvidia’s board initially supported him, saying Sunday, “The board has confidence in Jensen and his management team,” even as it announced an independent investigation. He said he had no reason to believe that company secrets or national security had been compromised.
But on Wednesday, New York Times reported that Huang also had an extramarital affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, who reported directly to him. The board of directors reportedly met later today to decide its future.
After announcing the resignation on Thursday, Reuters reported that Huang also had an intimate relationship with another Nvidia employee, citing two people familiar with the matter. Nvidia and Huang have not confirmed the information.
Musk’s five-word response did not specify a job, a company or whether the two had discussed working together. But it suggests that losing the job Huang held for 33 years hasn’t entirely ruined his employment prospects.
Musk and Huang go back years
Musk once “begged” Huang’s chips.
In September 2024, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison recounted a dinner with Musk and Huang at Nobu in Palo Alto, where he and Musk found themselves pleading for more of Nvidia’s coveted graphics processing units.
“I would describe the dinner as the Oracle: me and Elon begging Jensen for GPUs,” Ellison said. “Please take our money. Please take our money. By the way, I had dinner. No, no, take more. We need you to take more of our money please.”
Musk has since made his admiration public on several occasions. “I’m a big admirer of Nvidia and Jensen. This market cap is well deserved,” he wrote on X in March, adding that SpaceX AI and Tesla planned to continue purchasing Nvidia chips on a large scale.
The relationship extends beyond business. In May, a user posted photos of the couple taken ten years apart with the caption: “The most important thing in life is to have real friends.” » Musk reposted it with one word: “True.”
In October, he issued a more personal note on X: “Old friends are best friends. Jensen is awesome.” The post accompanied a clip of Huang discussing the companies’ collaboration on IT infrastructure for space.
The admiration goes both ways. Huang said Musk was “working on exactly the right things.” Fortune reported in January 2025, and later that year called Musk the “ultimate GPU,” comparing his ability to juggle complex information to chips sold by Nvidia.
Tech and finance leaders lined up behind Huang
Musk is far from the only high-profile businessman who thinks Huang still has something to offer.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney urged Nvidia’s board to keep him at X, comparing a potential firing to the “Steve Jobs level of idiocy fired by Apple.” He credited Huang with leading successive eras of technology, from gaming graphics to AI supercomputers.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman took a more personal approach, saying that even exceptional people make mistakes and calling for support for Huang and his family. Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, criticized Huang’s conduct but described him as “irreplaceable for American leadership in AI.” Musk agreed with Maguire’s message with a brief response: “I agree. »
Others who have publicly supported Huang include Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, and 37signals CTO David Heinemeier Hansson. The support offers a glimpse of the network that Huang could rely on going forward.
Congress precedes Huang’s next term
For now, this next chapter remains unannounced. Musk’s public welcome did not come with a job description, and it is unclear whether Huang intends to join another company, start something new or stop running one.
His departure also does not resolve Nvidia’s internal investigation or the FBI investigation into his relationship with Alice Huang, which President Donald Trump has said is ongoing.
Financially, Huang has ample room to evaluate his options. It still owns about 3.6% of Nvidia, making it its fourth largest shareholder, according to Reuters. His net worth fell by about $10 billion this week to around $145 billion. Fortune ” reported, knocking him out of the 10 richest people in the world.
A divorce could significantly reduce that net worth. His wife, Lori Huang, could be entitled to half, depending on marital agreements and whether assets are considered separate property. Forbes reported. Neither has publicly announced their intention to divorce.
Before any new role, Huang has a meeting at the Capitol. He agreed to testify before lawmakers, with an appearance expected before Thanksgiving, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast said, according to Bloomberg. Mast said Huang had “very serious questions to answer.”
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